Hurunui District

Kaiora Downs

224 Pahau Downs Road, Culverden

Phone 03 315 8140 website

80min (110km) from Christchurch. 8km west of the village of Culverden.

Getting there

Once you reach Culverden, turn left at School Road as you are heading north toward Hanmer Springs. Travel 6km on School Road, then take a gentle right hand turn onto the shingle road, Pahau Downs Road.

Trails and Pricing

Take your own horses and spend the day riding on the farm wherever you wish, with the aid of a map. The property offers wonderful scope for riding over a diversity of countryside. From the gently rolling downs, to elevated ridges giving splendid vistas overlooking the Amuri basin, with a range of 4WD tracks in between.

• Seasonal farming activities will mean the trails will be closed at certain times of the year.

• No smoking or dogs anywhere on the property, thank you.

• ​First Day Riding: $25pp / Second Day: $20pp - check for current pricing

Accommodation

You can stay in your own float or horse truck on-site for multi-day riding. The ablution block is in the woolshed close by. Own accommodation (float) but access to all other facilities: $25 View NZ Horse Stay

Lake Taylor Station

Info from Tony - Canterbury Horse Trail Riders

Phone: 03 314 4344

Offers a wide range of horse trekking destinations, whether you just want to do some day rides out from the station itself, to a little more serious rides over a couple of days around several of this countries beautiful lakes in the area.

Lake Taylor Station, almost at the end of the Lake Sumner road offers a wide variety of day ride destinations that cater for all levels of horse and rider abilities with some stunning scenery..

You may wish to just ride out and up to the actual lake Taylor only a couple of kilometres away, or perhaps take a lunch and ride on up around this lake and on up to Lake Katrine a further 6 or 7 kilometres following a rough vehicle track, of for folks who are happy to trot along in parts further on again up past Lake Katrine for a view of the beautiful Lake Sumner area some 20 kilometres distance each way....

Trekking Distances...

• Lake Taylor to Lake Mason return .Approx 34 kilometres....

• Lake Taylor to Lake Sumner via Lake Katrine return.....Approx 40 kilometres

• Lake Taylor to Lake Mason, then up over the saddle, around past lakes, Sumner,Katrine and Taylor back to the Station Approx 42 kilometres...

Getting There and Access

Directions to Lake Taylor Station...

Travelling north on state Highway 1 to Waipara, turn left just north of the Waipara river bridge as if heading towards Hamner Springs, then following up thru the Weka Pass to the small town of Waikari, where you need to turn left just as you come off the hill into this town and on the road now to Harwarden..

Continue straight thru this small town of Harwarden, heading north,on the Horsley Downs Road now, which continues on as the Lake Sumner road...

Some 12 kilometres further on the road turns down and over the small Waitohi River bridge and for the next 30 odd kilometres is a narrow shingle road up to Lake Taylor...nearly all the streams crossed are bridged or concrete fords in place and I think only two or three small natural streams need to be forded on this road, all easy and safe to do so..

Lake Taylor Station is on the left with Dave and Rosemarys homestead set back off the road behind a pine hedgerow..

Another two hundred metres up the Lake Sumner road and again turning left when you see the red woolshed is where the shearers quarters are located...

Take the farm track that runs up past this woolshed and also past the tractors shed, thru a gate and around to the right, climbing gently to the actual shearers quarters and horse paddock,, just shut the gate into this area behind you and turn your horses loose in here... it would pay to walk to the top of the hill up behind the quarters to make sure the top gate is shut, as horses can go into the paddock around the otherside otherwise..

NB...You will need either a four wheel towing a float, or a horse truck to safely travel up the Lake Sumner road to the Lake Taylor Station, as one area not too far from the station is quite a steep uphill on the shingle road which normal two wheel drive cars towing floats could have trouble.

Huts - Accommodation

Dave and Rosemary welcome horse riding folks to their Station, and provide for a small cost, good shearers quarter accommodation with bunk style sleeping quarters with a capacity of around 20 people, hot showers and a self contained Kitchen / Lounge area..

There is a good secure horse paddock that surrounds the shearers quarters

Cost... pp,Shearers quarters and one horse grazing per night....$20.00

pp, Access and use of the Lake Mason Hut per night......$20.00

no charge to ride to Lake Taylor thru to Lake Sumner area...

The shearers quarters are within reason, reasonably easy to book, however it would certainly pay to book with Rosemary early if you wish to stay in their Lake Mason Hut as it is very popular .... often more available mid week...